Thag 16:4 Raṭṭhapṅla · 莲华归心开放中文佛学资料库

- suttas - - evening talks - short morning talks - lectures - guided meditations - talk collections - other themes - chants - - - - à¹à¸à¸¢ - Franā§ais - Espaā±ol - - Portuguāªs - Ð ÑÑÑÐºÐ¸Ð¹ - - - Ð£ÐºÑÐ°ÑÐ½ÑÑÐºÐ° Submit Search - Home - Suttas - KN - Thag - Thag 16:4 Raṭṭhapṅla ## Browse Suttas Go to Theragṅthṅ index Thag index ## Thag 16:4 Â Raṭṭhapṅla The verses here fall into three sections, with the first two relating to Raṭṭhapṅlaâs story as told in MNÂ 82. In the first, Raṭṭhapṅla is addressing his father after the latter had tried to use wealth and Raṭṭhapṅlaâs former wives to lure Ratthapala into disrobing. In the second section, Raṭṭhapṅla is talking to King Koravya, who had asked him why he had ordained when he was still young and healthy, and had suffered no loss of relatives or wealth. The third section of verses here does not occur in MNÂ 82. Look at the image beautified, a heap of festering wounds, shored up: ill, but the object of many resolves, where there is nothing lasting or sure.1 Look at the form beautified with earrings & gems: a skeleton wrapped in skin, made attractive with clothes. Feet reddened with henna, a face smeared with powder: enough to deceive a fool, but not a seeker for the further shore. Hair plaited in eight pleats, eyes smeared with unguent: enough to deceive a fool, but not a seeker for the further shore. Like a newly painted unguent pot— a putrid body adorned: enough to deceive a fool, but not a seeker for the further shore. The hunter set out the snares, but the deer didnât go near the trap. Having eaten the bait, we go, leaving the hunters to weep. The hunterâs snares are broken; the deer didnât go near the trap. Having eaten the bait, we go, leaving the hunters to grieve.2 *Â *Â * I see in the world people with wealth who, from delusion, donât make a gift of the treasure theyâve gained. Greedy, they stash it away, hoping for even more sensual pleasures. A king who, by force, has conquered the world and rules over the earth to the edge of the sea, dissatisfied with the oceanâs near shore, longs for the oceanâs far shore as well. Kings & others —plenty of people— go to death with craving unabated. Unsated, they leave the body behind, having not had enough of the worldâs sensual pleasures. Oneâs relatives weep & pull out their hair. ), # Right single quote ('â', Oh woe, our loved one is dead,â they cry. Carrying him off, wrapped in a piece of cloth, they place him on a pyre, then set him on fire. So he burns, poked with sticks, in just one piece of cloth, leaving all his possessions behind. They are not shelters for one who has died— not relatives, friends, or companions. Heirs take over his wealth, while the being goes on, in line with his kamma. No wealth at all follows the dead one— not children, wives, dominion, or riches. Long life canât be gotten with wealth, nor aging warded off with treasure. The wise say this life is next to nothing— impermanent, subject to change. The rich & the poor touch the touch of Death. The foolish & wise are touched by it, too. But while fools lie as if slain by their folly, the wise donât tremble when touched by the touch. Thus the discernment by which one attains to mastery, is better than wealth— for those who havenât reached mastery go from existence to existence, out of delusion, doing bad deeds. One goes to a womb & to the next world, falling into the wandering on —one thing after another— while those of weak discernment, trusting in one, also go to a womb & to the next world. Just as an evil thief caught at the break-in is destroyed by his own act, so evil people —after dying, in the next world— are destroyed by their own acts. Sensual pleasures— variegated, enticing, sweet— in various ways disturb the mind. Seeing the drawbacks in sensual objects: thatâs why, O king, I went forth. Just like fruits, people fall —young & old— at the break-up of the body. Knowing this, O king, I went forth. The contemplative life is better for sure.3 *Â *Â * Out of conviction, I went forth equipped with the Victorâs message. Blameless4 was my going-forth: Debtless I eat my food. Seeing sensuality as burning, gold as a knife, pain in the entry into the womb & great danger in hells— seeing this peril, I was then dismayed— pierced (with dismay), then calmed on attaining the end of the effluents. The Teacher has been served by me; the Awakened Oneâs bidding, done; the heavy load,Â Â Â Â Â Â Â laid down; the guide to becoming,5Â Â Â uprooted. And the goal for which I went forth from home life into homelessness Iâve reached: the end of all fetters. Notes 1. This verse = DhpÂ 147. 2. This verse is not contained in MNÂ 82. 3. The verses in MNÂ 82 end here. 4. Avajjṅ. The Burmese and Sinhalese editions of the Pali Canon read avaā±jhṅ, or "not barren." 5. The guide to becoming is craving. - --> - - - -